Pervert who soiled himself while shoplifting in a Leeds Tesco demanded to be sectioned

Andrew Sibbery, who has previously been convicted of masturbating in public and causing a nuisance in local shops, tried to steal items from the Tesco Express on Long Meadow Gate, Garforth, while swearing at staff.

Having been convicted of similar offences only last month, he was given a community order after it was determined he would not receive the help he needed behind bars. But he then returned to offending on February 1, Leeds Crown Court heard this week.

The 59-year-old initially entered Garforth Garden Centre where he harassed customers, asking for money and to use their mobile phones.

He refused to leave the store and swore at staff. The police were called and he was arrested. But he returned four days later and again approached customers in the car park. He then went to the nearby Tesco later in the day, from which he was already banned, where he tried to steal a sandwich and a Peperami. Customers were left distressed by the odour coming from Siberry having soiled himself, prosecutor Eleanor Guildford said. Appearing in court on remand via video link from HMP Leeds, Siberry admitted two counts of theft and one of being a public nuisance.

Miss Guildford pointed to his previous convictions and said: "No amount of court intervention appears to have remedied the problem. He has a propensity to commit these type of offences. " Siberry, of Cliff Top Park, Garforth, was given an 18-month community order only last month for similar offending, stealing from the Tesco store, being abusive to staff and urinating outside of the shop. He also masturbated in front of a female dog walker in a walkway linking nearby Ninelands Lane and Fairburn Drive.

It is not the first time he was caught outraging public decency, having been caught with his trousers down in the bushes at Garforth’s Barley Hill Road play park in 2020. A concerned parent followed him into the bushes due to his odd behaviour, where she found him peering over the shrubs with his right arm "moving rapidly", suggesting he was masturbating, despite his claims he needed to urinate. He was jailed for 10 weeks on that occasion.

Mitigating for his latest offending, Elanor Mitten said Siberry has bi-polar disorder and has tried to have himself sectioned, but claimed he was told he was not ill enough.

She said his condition spirals over his use of cannabis, crack cocaine and alcohol, and started using drugs again immediately after being released in January. She said: "It's his drug use that underpins this offending. He has taken desperate measures, trying to get himself sectioned."

She said Siberry had been an architect for Leeds City Council but took early retirement a decade ago due to his deteriorating health.

Judge Robin Mairs told him: "You have previous convictions that have been dealt with using various methods. There have been short terms in prison and drug treatment requirements, but none of them have worked. You were released on January 16 and these offences were committed days after that release.

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"These are people who are doing their job. They are trying to earn an honest living and should not be subject to this kind of harassment from you. When sober and not addled with drugs, you are ashamed of your behaviour, but you continually use crack, cannabis and alcohol when at liberty."

He jailed him for 19 months, telling him it would allow him a chance to abstain from drink and drugs. He was also banned from entering the Tesco store for five years.